


Help Wanted

by xiuhans



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Retail, Attempt at Humor, Light-Hearted, M/M, OT12 (EXO), exo from target
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24150763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xiuhans/pseuds/xiuhans
Summary: “Minseok works in returns, but he’s so skilled that we can ask him to work anywhere in the store,” Junmyeon tells Luhan, who nods sagely like what’s being said is especially interesting.“And that’s why I’m entrusting him to train you and make seasonal look presentable,” he looks at Minseok with that annoying customer service smile as if daring him to refuse.Jongdae is snickering from where he’s folding towels and Minseok wants to throw a lawn chair at him.
Relationships: Kim Minseok | Xiumin/Lu Han
Comments: 9
Kudos: 12





	1. Training Day

It’s two hours into his opening shift and Minseok is not having a good time. He hears the tell-tale sound of keys jingling before he sees the obnoxious red cardigan and braces himself for the earful he is about to receive.

“Minseok, what is going on up here?!” 

Minseok moves around behind the customer service desk at an impressive speed, neatly grouping the returns by department, “Sorry Myeon it’s just there’s so many damn seasonal returns.”

The team lead sighs and rests his hands on his hips, “I get it, really. We just hired someone to work over there and he starts his training today, but for the time being can you run them for me? We can’t have the place looking like this. For Christ’s sake it’s the first thing the guests see when they walk in!”

Minseok gives him a closed-lip smile, “Okay, I got it.”

“Good. Yixing will man the front solo until you come back. Can I see your walkie for a sec?” Minseok hands it over wordlessly, “Jongdae can you come up to the guest service counter? I have a few domestics returns for you,” he says in an overly sweet tone that doesn’t sound genuinely sweet at all, “Chanyeol, there’s some grocery returns up here for you, too. Thank you,” he returns the walkie back to Minseok and speeds off to god knows where.

Minseok looks at the assortment of patio chair cushions, grill scrapers, and everything in between and thinks about what he’s done wrong in his life to deserve this. He gathers as much as he can into a cart and sets off to the back corner of the store. He definitely doesn’t avoid customers’ eyes and quicken his pace when he thinks they’re approaching him. That would be awful customer service. 

But he does take his sweet time putting back all the returns. He barely checks to see if they’re in the right place, after all this isn’t his department. Whoever the new guy is can deal with this later. He probably shouldn’t make things so hard for a new hire but that’s life. They’ll have to deal with some kind of bullshit sooner or later, Minseok considers it part of training. He purposely messes up the arrangement of gardening tools and chuckles to himself at how evil he is. It’s the little things that bring him joy in a hellhole like Target. Poor new guy is going to have to zone these aisles for hours.

“Damn, seasonal looks like shit,” Jongdae comments from where he’s folding bath towels. 

“Why don’t you touch it up once in a while? It’s basically an extension of domestics.”

“No one asked me to. I’m not Junmyeon, I don’t feel like going above and beyond for this place. I barely feel like folding these towels, but Jongin is closing domestics tonight and I actually like him so I won’t be an asshole.”

Minseok picks up the box of sidewalk chalk in the cart. He wonders if this is a seasonal product or if it belongs in stationary. He shrugs and puts it on the shelf with bird feeders. 

“Maybe I should ask to work in domestics, I hate returns. Too many annoying customers and Zitao always complains when he sees how many returns there are for style.”

“Yeah, man, you should seriously look into it. It’s pretty chill back here, except when Chanyeol hangs around while setting the candy endcaps.”

He starts considering it as he finishes emptying the cart of its contents. It really wouldn’t be so bad working near Jongdae, even if it means listening to Chanyeol ramble every now and then. It sure beats hearing customers unload their life stories onto him as he processes their returns.

“Hey Minseok,” Junmyeon calls out.

Both Minseok and Jongdae look over toward the team lead. Junmyeon is being followed by a young-ish skinny guy with dark swoopy hair that looks about seven years out of style. Judging by the red shirt and khaki pants combo he must be the new seasonal guy.

“This is Luhan. He finished his cashier training yesterday and today’s his first day working in seasonal,” the team lead says with the fake enthusiastic voice he always uses with new hires. It’s supposed to make them feel welcome or something but all it does is make everyone else feel uncomfortable.

Minseok wants to ask what this has to do with him but he doesn’t want to sound rude and intimidate this Luhan guy too much on his first day, “Nice to meet you, Luhan. I’m Minseok.”

“Minseok works in returns, but he’s so skilled that we can ask him to work anywhere in the store,” Junmyeon tells Luhan, who nods sagely like what’s being said is especially interesting.

Minseok is confused by the sudden flattery and the outright lie because he most certainly does not work in just any department.

“And that’s why I’m entrusting him to train you and make seasonal look presentable,” he looks at Minseok with that annoying customer service smile as if daring him to refuse.

Jongdae is snickering from where he’s folding towels and Minseok wants to throw a lawn chair at him.

“Oh, wow,” is all he can say without getting fired.

“Aw no need to act so surprised! You’re truly an asset to the team,” he says, patting the side of Minseok’s arm, “Anyway I’ve gotta go. Page me if you need me.”

As soon as Junmyeon is out of earshot, Minseok sighs, “Here’s your first training lesson: never listen to Junmyeon unless he’s giving you instructions because everything else is nonsense.”

Luhan cocks his head to the side like a confused dog. Minseok has never seen a human do that.

“Your expertise is nonsense?” the new hire asks. His voice is kind of nice, Minseok thinks offhandedly.

“Yes. I rarely work the sales floor so get ready for the worst training of your life. It’s only for today, though.”

“Who’s gonna train me tomorrow?”

“No clue. If you’re lucky, Jongdae. If not, Chanyeol from grocery. He used to work in seasonal.”

“What’s wrong with Chanyeol from grocery?” 

“Who’s calling me?” a deep voice calls from the candy aisle. Of course Chanyeol has to start filling the end caps at this moment.

“No one, we’re talking shit. Get back to work,” Minseok says. 

Chanyeol ignores him like he always does and walks over with two packs of Kit-Kat minis in each of his abnormally huge hands, “About me?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s rude as hell. What lies has he been feeding you, kid?” Chanyeol asks Luhan.

“Kid? I’m 30,” Luhan says.

“Well shit. You’re the new seasonal guy?”

“Yes he is,” Minseok cuts in, “And I’m trying to get his training started.”

Chanyeol bursts into laughter, “Junmyeon really has you old geezers putting this place back together? Is that legal?”

Jongdae joins in his amusement, “Before Luhan got here Minseok was purposefully fucking shit up because he thought he’d go back to returns,” he adds in.

Minseok glares and contemplates wrecking the shelf of towels he just finished folding.

“Don’t look at me like that, I saw you messing up those shovels.”

Minseok rolls his eyes, “Anyway, let’s go Luhan. Now you know what’s wrong with Chanyeol from grocery.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Chanyeol doesn’t get an answer because Minseok turns towards the front of the store and leads Luhan to the employee breakroom. 

He goes into a closet and grabs what looks to be two oversized cell phones, “When you clock in every morning grab one of these scanners. We’re gonna need it to show us where the items belong because I sure as hell don’t.”

Minseok then leads Luhan back onto the sales floor and to the backroom, “This is what customers mean by ‘the back.’ If they want you to check in the back for something, you look here. If it’s not here, we don’t have it.”

Luhan nods along to what he says but otherwise stays quiet.

“Over here is where we get new shipments of everything. What you will be responsible for is this flat right here,” he rolls out the flat underneath the sign labeled “seasonal” and pushes it out of the backroom. 

They return to seasonal again and Minseok looks around trying to make sense of literally anything. It seems like everything is in the wrong place and there’s no way they can put new stuff out when the place is so disorganized.

“Alright, here’s the game plan. Let’s open up these boxes and put the new stuff out. Scan it to find out which aisle and shelf it goes. If you see something that doesn’t belong there in its place, take it down and put it in this cart. Once all the new stuff is out, we can figure out where the other shit goes.”

“Sounds like a plan but also like a shit ton of work.”

“Yeah well that’s how it is around here. But on the brightside, once you get everything in order today, all you have to do is bring out the new shipment and do touch ups.”

“You sound pretty knowledgeable about this area. Are you sure Junmyeon was lying?”

“Dude trust me. This is just basic stuff that every department does.”

They get to work on their section and it’s a painful process for Minseok. The whole thing feels like the world’s most annoying game of tetris, and they end up taking down more things than they put away. 

They mostly work in silence but a few times Luhan would ask him about an item, but for the most part the new hire caught on quickly and over time he asked less and less. Minseok watches him in wonder as he lifts boxes with his scrawny arms. He finds it absolutely fascinating. 

A couple hours in, Minseok begins to feel himself working up a sweat, like his body is on a low simmer. He hates sweating and that is probably why he never applied for a sales floor position, now that he thinks about it. Luhan looks fine, though. In fact he seems to be enjoying himself, oblivious to Minseok’s grunts of frustration. He even takes it upon himself to assist customers who ask about particular items in their area.

“Hey I’m gonna go take my lunch break now. You think you’ll be good on your own?” Minseok asks him.

Luhan nods, “Yeah I think I can hold this place down for 30 minutes. If not I’ll just bother that Jongdae guy.”

“Good idea. Don’t forget to take your lunch either. It’s kind of illegal if you don’t.”

“Will do. Enjoy your lunch,” he says smiling from where he is hanging windchimes. The melodic tinkling of the chimes makes everything more comical, like a scene from a romcom. Minseok almost expects a dramatic slow-mo of Luhan’s face with wind blowing through his hair and the angelic music playing in the background while he smiles like that. 

But if he’s being honest with himself, the new hire’s smiling face is a bit unflattering. He doesn’t mind though, and maybe it’s because of what Chanyeol told him once; that he has a type and it’s called ugly-cute. Not that he’s attracted to Luhan of course, he is just making an observation.

Minseok goes to the employee break room and Chanyeol and Baekhyun from electronics are already in there. He grabs his lunchbox from the fridge and sits one table away from them. Jongdae and Chanyeol are a deadly combo but Baekhyun and Chanyeol are somehow worse. 

“Minseok I hear the new seasonal guy you’re training is cute,” Baekhyun says sliding over to Minseok’s table.

“You heard or you were told?” Minseok asks.

“Is he cute or not?”

“Neither.”

“Aha!” Chanyeol exclaims, “You totally dig him!”

Minseok would really love to dig into his turkey sandwich and not have this conversation, “How the fuck did you jump to that conclusion?”

“He is most definitely your type, don’t lie to me Kim Minseok.”

Curse Chanyeol and his sharp wit.

“I’ve known him for a total of 3 hours and we spent the whole time working how could I like him already?”

“I didn’t say like but you’re at least 50 percent attracted to him.”

“I’m not.”

“40?”

“Shut up, Chanyeol.”

Baekhyun already seems bored with the topic and changes it, “So anyway, I asked Junmyeon to hold my electronics keys while I take my lunch and he fucking snapped at me. Like what’s his deal?”

“Really?” Chanyeol asks, “He’s always nice to me.”

“He’s nice to everyone. Maybe Baekhyun’s vibes are off.”

“Hey! Everyone loves me,” Baekhyun pouts.

“That’s a pretty big assumption.”

“You’re mean. You’re probably not even this mean to Luhan.”

Minseok rolls his eyes, “I will be if he turns out to be as annoying as you.”

Lunch flies by too fast, in Minseok’s opinion. Thirty minutes is not nearly enough down time but it’s whatever. He comes back to seasonal and sends Luhan off for his lunch break. He’s slightly impressed by the progress the new hire made in his 30 minute absence. The flat is almost done and all that’s left is the cart of misplaced items that seems to be growing, and the never ending returns Yixing keeps bringing over. 

Minseok finishes up the flat and rolls it to the back, and when Luhan returns, they work together on emptying the cart. He has to admit, he likes working with Luhan. He isn’t too talkative, and he actually gets work done. Today has been the most productive shift Minseok has worked in a long time. 

By the time his shift is over, they are mostly finished, “I’ve got to clock out now. Just touch up the zone and if you don’t get through everything in the cart just roll it to the back before you leave.”

“Oh, Okay. Thanks for your help today. See you tomorrow Minseok,” Luhan says, “Maybe.”

“Yeah, no problem. See you.”

There’s a good chance he won’t see Luhan tomorrow. He’s closing and most new hires work midday shifts for their first few days. Minseok thinks he did a pretty good job training today, especially in an area he’s not familiar with. Luhan will need more in depth training from someone more experienced, but he can’t say training was a nuisance like he assumed it would be this morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heh.... yeah im just doing this for fun since im bored out of my mind in quarantine and school ended. this is not serious and im not a gifted writer so please enjoy without having any expectations :*


	2. Waffle House

Minseok pulls into the parking lot of Target at exactly 3:57pm and isn’t at all surprised to see the place jam packed. The treck from his car to the time clock takes two whole minutes and he makes it just in time to clock in at 4 on the dot. 

Well. Almost.

There is a certain swoopy-haired seasonal worker struggling to punch in his number correctly and finally gets it on his third try. Minseok is slightly annoyed when he has to punch in at 4:01, but he doesn’t mention it.

“Hey Minseok,” Luhan says as he moves over to let Minseok punch in, “I didn’t think I’d see you today, I thought you were a morning person.”

“I’m a whenever-they-schedule-me person. Are you just clocking in?”

Luhan nods, “Junmyeon told me to come in later and train for a closing shift. Tomorrow is my last day of training and he wants me to open.”

“He’s got you clopening in your first week? That’s rough.” Minseok offhandedly remembers he’s opening tomorrow as well but doesn’t consider why he and Luhan’s schedules are perfectly lined up. It’s probably just a weird coincidence.

Just then, Junmyeon walks in, “Hey Minseok,” he says in his usual chipper voice. He looks flustered and a little worn out, but his smile never falls. He walks over to the computer in the room behind the time clock, “And Luhan, welcome back! I’m getting ready to head out as soon as I send this email. It’s pretty slammed today but a busy store means we’re making sales!”

Great, Minseok thinks. The first two hours of closing are always the peak hours of customer activity, and high traffic mean lots of returns. 

“I guess I should get to the guest service counter quickly then,” Minseok says.

Junmyeon looks up from the computer screen, his glasses sliding down his nose, “Oh that won’t be necessary. Sehun’s up there and Yixing will be with him until 8 so he should be fine. What I want you to do is train Luhan on how to run a closing shift.”

Minseok can’t help the groan that leaves his lips, “I’m not a sales floor associate, Myeon.”

Junmyeon chuckles softly, “It’s not rocket science Minseok. Plus, you did so well yesterday.”

“Yeah, you did so well training me yesterday,” Luhan says and Minseok can’t tell if he’s being serious or just taking the piss.

“Seriously, Minseok. Seasonal looks great! Besides, closing is way easier than the day shift. It’ll be an easy night.”

Minseok can’t say no to an easy night even though there is no such thing as an easy night at Target. 

Turns out it isn’t going to be an easy night at all. Minseok really wishes he hadn’t gotten his hopes up and took the advice his past self gave Luhan yesterday: never listen to Junmyeon.

The volume of returns he and Luhan retrieve from the customer service counter is absurd and the seasonal section looks halfway back to how it looked yesterday before they worked on it.

Luhan stands with his shoulders slouched and eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. Minseok lets himself feel a little bit amused, just a little. The new hire seemed so perky yesterday and it irritated him, but seeing him now fills Minseok with a weird sense of satisfaction. Misery really does love company.

“Already sick of this job? You just started,” Minseok teases.

“You said after I finished yesterday all I would have to do is touch up and put back returns.”

“I also said I’m not an expert on how the sales floor works. But what I said is true for the most part. It’s just only true if someone was back here during the day, which it looks like there wasn’t.”

“This sucks. I think I made a mistake applying here.”

“Probably. But don’t give up yet!” Minseok says using Junmyeon’s customer service voice. Seriously, he thinks, don’t give up. It takes weeks to find a replacement and even longer to go through the hiring process. This department can’t handle another month of neglect.

Or rather Minseok can’t handle another month of being a substitute.

Luhan chuckles, slightly amused by his act, “I won’t quit that easily. Do you really have such little faith in me?”

“It’s not you, it’s Target. If you last until this time next year, you will see a complete change in staff.”

“Is it that bad?” He sounds a little nervous. Minseok finds it funny, so he doesn’t bother responding. Instead, he says, “Think fast!” and tosses Luhan a small potted cactus. Minseok realizes belatedly that this is a bad idea for a number of reasons.

Luhan’s reflexes react accordingly and he catches the cactus, only to drop it immediately afterwards. 

“Shit!” they both hiss simultaneously, one for his hand and the other for the broken ceramic on the floor.

“Why would you throw a cactus?!” Luhan cries.

“Sorry! I already said I don’t know much about the sales floor. I always throw things at Yixing over at guest services.”

“This has nothing to do with seasonal. Not throwing spiky things is common sense, Minseok!”

“Okay! I’m sorry, really I am,” he does feel bad for hurting him but Luhan’s slightly hysterical reaction is kind of worth it.

“What’s all the ruckus?” Chanyeol yells from two aisles over, setting what looks to be a pyramid of Mountain Dew.

“Why are you still here?” Minseok asks the same time Luhan says, “Minseok’s trying to kill me.”

“Minseok, stop being mean. I’m pulling a double so we’ll be closing buddies. And Luhan, can you run that back for me?”

“I said he’s trying to kill me,” Luhan says, cradling his hand and checking for any needles in his skin.

“That’s all? You know how old people get when it’s past their bedtime.”

“Hey, we’re the same age,” Minseok snaps.

“Do you guys wanna go out to eat later?” He asks, ignoring Minseok.

“We only have a 30 minute lunch break, though,” Luhan says.

“I mean after.”

Luhan stares blankly, “But… we close at midnight.”

Chanyeol sighs, “And? Waffle House is open 24/7. We might even get lucky and see some drunk chicks fight.”

“Sounds tempting,” Minseok deadpans, “Hey, Luhan, while Chanyeol stands there and speaks nonsense can you go into that box by the help button and pull out the hand broom and dustpan?”

Luhan does as told and even takes it upon himself to sweep up the shards.

“Is Luhan your dog or something? All you do is boss him around.”

“He’s not a dog, this is just part of his training,” he actually doesn’t have a strategy in training. Luhan is the first person he’s been forced to take under his wing.

“You’re further proving my point. Anyway are you down for Waffle House or not?”

Minseok wants to say no just to grate on Chanyeol’s nerves. He gets flustered when he’s annoyed and it’s really funny to see. But Minseok isn’t up for a piss-Chanyeol-off session, and he doesn’t want to pass up the opportunity to have breakfast for dinner.

Still, he is Minseok, and Minseok isn’t going to give Chanyeol the satisfaction of a straightforward answer, “Luhan, do you wanna get some Waffle House?”

The new hire just shrugs, “I mean I guess. I’ve never eaten there before.”

Chanyeol’s eyes go wide, “That’s it, we’re going. This man needs to get cultured. But in the meantime, I gotta go back stock the rest of these sodas right quick, I’ll see you hags later.”

“How old is Chanyeol?” Luhan asks once the taller man is out of earshot.

“Mentally, 13. But he’s actually not that much younger than us.”

Luhan furrows his brows, “Then why一” he cuts himself off, not sure what he wants to ask, and Minseok gets it. Chanyeol is not easy to understand, but Luhan will learn in time.

They get to work and fall back into the same routine as the day before, except this time they only have to focus on recovering the area and putting back returns. Minseok decides it’s not as bad as he thought it’d be. 

Luhan, who is more familiar with the place now, works faster than he did yesterday and is even more efficient. He always looks up to greet every customer who walks by and is quick to offer assistance. Minseok sees how enamored each guest is by him when he gives them a more toned down version of his weird smile. He gives each person his undivided attention and makes them feel important. It’s kind of hypnotizing.

“Dude, have you ever considered becoming a con artist?” Minseok asks him.

He tilts his head, “Why?”

“I just have a feeling that you could scam people and they wouldn’t get mad.”

Luhan laughs and his face looks weird again. 

Heeeyyy, a voice crackles from the walkie talkie on Minseok’s hip, Can we get an additional on register 9? The lines are backing up. 

Minseok groans and prays someone volunteers before they start name dropping.

“Tell them I’m on my way,” Luhan says.

Minseok has always wondered what kind of freaks actually volunteer to cashier, and now he has his answer.

“You actually wanna go up there?”

“Yeah, I love people.”

He can’t argue with that, as long as he doesn’t have to go up there himself.

Minseok decides now is the perfect time to take his 15 minute break and he finds himself in the breakroom with no one else but Baekhyun, who’s got his feet propped up on another chair and is eating sloppily out of a bag of chips.

He sees Baekhyun more often than he sees anyone else in the store with electronics being right next door to the guest services counter. He works the same odd hours that seem to have no pattern that Minseok does, and they get along pretty well when he’s not being annoying, which he tends to be in the presence of Jongdae or Chanyeol.

“How’s training going, my favorite Target team member?” Baekhyun asks, holding out his bag of cheddar Ruffles toward Minseok.

“Not so bad, my least favorite Target team member,” he replies and Baekhyun snatches the bag away when Minseok tries to reach into it.

“You’re meaner than Junmyeon, who by the way I am SO glad isn’t closing tonight.”

“Junmyeon isn’t mean,” Baekhyun scrunches his nose at this, “You’re just a bit too playful for his liking.” 

And he’s slightly miffed that electronics members make more than he does, Minseok wants to add.

“Not my fault he’s such a buzzkill.”

“You know Junmyeon basically dedicates his life to this store. Don’t worry, it isn’t personal.”

Baekhyun pouts and brushes the chip crumbs off his red polo, “Whatever. Anyway I heard we’re going to Waffle House tonight.”

“We?”

“Yeah, we一” 

Alright team, Minseok and Baekhyun’s walkie-talkies start buzzing, I want to give a shoutout to our newest team member, Luhan, for bringing in his first Target red card, making that our 7th for today! Great job, Luhan.

“Wow. That was quick,” Baekhyun says, “I’ve been here for months and I still haven’t gotten anyone to sign up for one of those things.”

Minseok isn’t all that surprised after seeing him in action with the customers in seasonal.

It’s not long until he and Baekhyun hear another announcement. One red card is a feat, but two in the span of minutes is a miracle. 

By the end of Minseok’s 15 minute break, Luhan brings in 4 red cards total. 

Baekhyun goes slack-jawed, which comes as a relief to Minseok because his coworker’s incessant chomping has been grating on his nerves, and his awestruck face looks dumb when it’s stained orange, “What’s with this guy? Is he a god?”

“If there is a god of Target then maybe.”

***

“Can we take our lunch together?” there’s a childishly eager lilt in his voice that’s strangely endearing to Minseok.

He must really enjoy my company, Minseok thinks to himself, which is weird because he isn’t all that welcoming. 

“I just really hate eating and working alone,” Luhan adds. It makes sense, Luhan seems like the social butterfly type. Eating in silence probably drives him crazy.

“Well, technically one of us should stay on the floor in case a customer needs something.”

Luhan’s shoulders slump just slightly. It would be easy to miss if Minseok wasn’t actively looking for it.

“But,” Minseok continues, “As long as we let Jongin know, he can keep an eye out for us until we come back.”

“Okay,” Luhan says brightly, “Gimme one sec, I’ll be right back.”

Minseok hates how the new hire is starting to lean more towards cute on his ugly-cute scale. He’s always had a soft spot for pretty people.

Luhan rushes back and they walk to the time clock together. After clocking out for their meals, Luhan runs back out to the sales floor, and Minseok heads to the fridge and pulls out his lunchbox and sits at the far back table.

Luhan returns shortly with nothing but an iced americano from the Starbucks and sits right next to Minseok.

“You didn’t pack lunch?” Minseok asks.

“Nah, I’m not good at that kind of thing.”

“Well you know, this is a grocery store. You can like… buy food.”

Luhan laughs, “I know that, but I never know what to get so I just buy coffee.”

Minseok looks down at his chicken salad sandwich and deliberates, “Look, I’m a big fan of coffee, too, but it’s not healthy to have as a meal,” Minseok tears his sandwich as neatly as possible, “Here, try this.”

Luhan vehemently refuses, “No it’s ok, really. I’m not even that hungry,” But the look in his eyes doesn’t fool Minseok.

He leaves the other half of the sandwich on a napkin and watches as Luhan stares at it longingly before finally picking it up.

The way Luhan devours the sandwich is not anything less than savagely. He must have really been hungry because he finishes it before Minseok takes his 4th bite. 

“Fankyu,” the new hire says with a full mouth and mayo on the corners of his lips. He eats even messier than Baekhyun.

“No problem,” Minseok says, trying not to grimace. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he spots Baekhyun’s Ruffles bag on top of the refrigerator. He takes it and pours some chips out onto a napkin then returns it. He figures Baekhyun won’t miss a few chips, and if he does, Minseok can always blame Chanyeol.

He and Luhan snack on the chips and watch whatever garbage primetime show is running on the break room tv. It’s some singing contest and Luhan finds it extremely amusing whenever someone’s voice cracks. Minseok finds Luhan more amusing than the show.

The 30 minute break is over in the blink of an eye and soon enough he’s back to being surrounded by patio furniture and beach balls. 

The two hours following is what Minseok calls crunch time. Every employee is rushing to put away last minute returns while trying to recover the area from the shopping done earlier in the day. Even Chanyeol is in the zone and doesn’t stop by to joke around. He takes the candy endcaps very seriously. 

Zitao calls it Devil’s Hour because it’s when bored college kids come over to try on dumb outfits and ruin his immaculately zoned floorpad, leaving him with no choice but to stay after hours to clean up after them. Minseok never thought it was that serious until a group of ruffians come over and start playing beach volleyball by the patio display.

“Hey, can you guys please not do that,” Luhan says, but not even his greasy smile can get through to this bunch of frat boys, so he goes ignored. He looks to Minseok for help.

Minseok is in absolutely no mood to entertain this group nor waste his precious energy, so he works smarter, not harder. 

He grabs the walkie-talkie at his hip and brings it near his lips, “Hey can I get security to Lawn & Garden, please?” He says loudly into the mic. 

Copy that, Chanyeol responds through the speaker.

The frat boys let the beach ball fall and leave, but not without sending over dirty looks like Minseok ruined all their plans or something.

“Aren’t you going to cancel that security call?” Luhan asks.

Minseok shakes his head, “I didn’t press the button on the walkie. Security didn’t hear my call.”

“Then how did they respond?”

“That was Chanyeol. He heard my fake call and responded. It’s just a little trick we made up for empty threats. When you really need security, call for AP.”

Luhan is thoroughly impressed, “Chanyeol is so smart.”

Minseok scowls, “It was my idea first.”

They work quickly through it all and seasonal is back to looking presentable again, right in time for closing. 

Luhan clocks out first. Minseok waits until 12:01 because he still hasn’t forgotten about that extra minute Luhan took when he first came in. Baekhyun and Chanyeol follow afterwards.

Shortly after clocking out, the four employees gather in front of the parking lot..

“So everyone just follow my car I guess,” Chanyeol says, “How far away did you all park?”

“I parked next to you,” Baekhyun says.

Minseok points to the car less than 20 feet from the employee exit, “I parked right there.”

“I don’t have a car,” Luhan says.

“That’s no problem, you can just ride with one of us,” Chanyeol offers, “Alright now let’s go, we’re burning moonlight.”

They unintentionally break off in pairs, with Luhan following Minseok even though technically Minseok didn’t offer him a ride and Luhan didn’t ask for one either. He doesn’t mind, though. 

He leads his coworker to his humble little Hyundai and unlocks the doors to let him in. 

Luhan hesitates to step in, “Dude, are you sure you don’t want me to take my shoes off first or something? It’s like, scary clean in here.”

Minseok is also hesitant to let Luhan in and disturb the spotless black carpet interior with outside debris and Target germs, but he reassures him that it’s okay to enter. He doesn’t mention how he’s going to vacuum it later, lest Luhan finds out how much of a neat freak he is.

Chanyeol drives by in his giant jeep and flashes his headlights, signaling for Minseok to follow along and they drive out of the parking lot, ending yet another day at the store.

Luhan sits rigidly in the seat like he’s afraid to touch anything.

“Hey, man, relax. You’re not gonna dirty anything. And if you do, I won’t be mad,” Yes he will, but he hates seeing Luhan look uncomfortable.

Luhan relaxes into the seat, “I can see why Target drives you crazy. You just can’t stand the mess.”

Minseok laughs a little because it’s true, “Well you’re not wrong.”

“I bet your room looks sterile like a hospital.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know...” Minseok mumbles to himself.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing. Anyway I may be neat, but I still have an eye for interior design. My room is clean and fashionable.”

“I would like to see that,” Luhan says somewhat mischievously, and it scares Minseok shitless because how does he make an innocent sentence sound like that?!

Chanyeol finally pulls into the Waffle House parking lot and it’s beautifully deserted. Minseok is just glad to be out of a confined space with Luhan.

The trio enter the establishment and pick a table not too far from the door. They each pick up a menu but only Luhan seems to be staring at it seriously.

“You have any idea what you wanna get, Lu?” Chanyeol asks.

“Umm… a waffle I guess?”

Both Baekhyun and Chanyeol groan exaggeratedly.

“That’s so lame,” Baekhyun whines.

“Yeah, like who comes to Waffle House to eat a waffle?” Chanyeol says completely seriously.

“Then what should I get?” Luhan asks, sounding genuinely confused.

Baekhyun leans over and recommends a few things off the menu. Minseok isn’t really paying attention because the overwhelming smell of grease and food is driving him mad with hunger. And hunger just so happens to make him a little bit snappy.

“Don’t listen to them, they’re dumb. Just get what looks good to you,” Minseok says.

“Uh-oh, Minseok’s hangry,” Chanyeol sing-songs, “We better hurry up and order.”

Minseok, of course, orders a waffle along with hashbrowns, eggs, and bacon. Breakfast tastes the best at night.

“Lame,” he hears Baekhyun whisper as he relays his order to the waitress.

Luhan orders the same thing and this time it’s Minseok whispering, “Copycat,” under his breath.

“You guys ever realized that Waffle House is basically hibachi?” Chanyeol asks out of the blue.

“Yes. And ketchup is a smoothie. And lasagna is a cake. You’ve said this before,” Minseok replies.

Chanyeol pouts, “Where’s the damn food? Conversations aren’t fun when Minseok is cranky.”

The waitress returns with their drinks and Minseok takes a long sip of his water. Luhan swirls his straw around his fruity lemonade concoction. 

“Oh Luhan, I’ve been meaning to ask you about the RedCard thing,” Baekhyun says, “How did you get so many? You know today this lady chewed me out for bagging her oranges with the toothpaste.”

Luhan chuckles, “I really don’t do anything special. I just ask if they want to sign up for one and some of them do.”

“Bullshit. I ask all the time and they say no before I finish asking,” Chanyeol adds.

“He’s being serious,” Minseok says, “He really does just ask, but also he has this face that he does. Show them, Lu.”

“What face? I don’t do any face.”

“Pretend I’m a customer, and you’re ringing up my groceries,” Baekhyun suggests.

Luhan reluctantly agrees and pretends his straw wrapper is merchandise, “Hello, did you find everything okay today?”

“Yes I did. Thank you for asking,” Baekhyun says, slipping into the role of a customer.

“Would you like to save 5% on future purchases by signing up for a RedCard?”

“Holy Shit,” Chanyeol says. 

And there it is. The Face.

And with the arrival of The Face also comes the arrival of their food.

“You gotta show me how to do that,” Chanyeol says as he unwraps his cutlery.

Silence settles over the trio and all that can be heard is the sound of forks scratching across plates and the usual sound of the grill. Minseok all but inhales his food, like Luhan did during their lunch break. 

By the time they’re done, they’re too stuffed to talk anymore. The waitress comes back with three separate bills and after they finish paying, they meet up in the parking lot one last time.

“Thanks for coming out, guys. Too bad we didn’t see any drunk chick fights,” Chanyeol laments.

“Thanks for inviting me,” Luhan says.

“No problem, bro. You’re a way cooler old dude than Minseok.”

“That’s it. Good night Chanyeol, I hope the bed bugs bite. Let’s go Luhan,” Minseok snaps.

“Minseok’s still grumpy after eating. It must be past his bedtime,” Baekhyun says.

Minseok walks off and Luhan follows after him to his car.

“Thanks for the ride, but I can get home from here.”

“I’d be an asshole to let you walk home at this hour or pay for a rideshare. Just get it. I don’t wanna feel guilty if you die or something.”

Luhan just laughs and gets into the car. He puts his address into Minseok’s navigation app and they drive off.

“Hmm... sleepy,” Luhan hums and stretches out in his seat, eyes closed.

There’s a word his mind keeps repeating over and over again and he wants to purge it immediately.

Cute.

Honestly, Minseok’s mind has not known peace since the day that swoopy-haired man walked into his place of employment.

Minseok thinks he’s a bit crazy for letting Luhan live in his mind like this when he barely knows him.

He pulls into a decent looking apartment complex and gently shakes Luhan awake to point out which building he lives in. Even under the harsh streetlights, Luhan’s bleary eyed sleep face is, dare he say it, pretty. 

Luhan opens the door and exits, but before closing it, he leans back into the car, “Thanks for the ride, Minseok. You really didn’t have to.”

“I didn’t,” Minseok says, “But I felt like it.”

Luhan smiles, the pretty smile not the weird one, “Good night, Minseok.”

Minseok just nods back because if he speaks, he thinks he might throw up (in a good way, maybe).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so.... i thought quarantine would be a boring time but then work got slammed so aha 'xD  
> i literally wrote this chapter in one sitting and didnt proofread because i wanted to get it out asap, enjoy!


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